Just Be Foes
by Rainbow-Velociraptor
Summary: Just be foes. All we've got to do is just be foes. It's time to say goodbye, just be foes. Just be foes.


**Title:** Just Be Foes  
**Rating: **T  
**Genre: **Hurt/Comfort/Drama  
**Pairing: **Ratchet/Knock Out  
**Universe:** Prime  
**Warnings:** m/m, slash, spoilers of "Persuasion", "Synthesis", and "Deadlock".

**Songs of Inspiration:  
**"_Just Be Friends (Original, English Piano, and Music Box Versions)" _by_ Dixie Flatline feat. Megurie Luka (English lyrics by Amanda Lee)_

**Summary: **Just be foes. All we've got to do is just be foes. It's time to say goodbye, just be foes. Just be foes.

**Author's Note:** Another vent writing through fictional robots. You know, I don't remember this song being this painful the last time I heard it. And wow, this took a lot long to finish that I had planned and wow it was a lot longer that I had planned. But that's good I suppose. I was going to write more, but then my brain was just like no stop just stop it's good enough. Anyway, enjoy reading my vents and shit, eheh.

* * *

**Just Be Foes**

* * *

_Just be foes. All we've got to do is just be foes. It's time to say goodbye, just be foes. Just be foes._

* * *

From the moment they met, they knew it would never work. But that didn't stop them. They wanted to believe it would. Only when it was too late did they realize.

* * *

_In the morning light of yesterday, I suddenly realized.  
__As I gather up the broken shards of what used to be.  
__I wasn't thinking straight and I cut my finger by mistake.  
__Is this really became of the love we both once dreamed of?_

* * *

He didn't think about every day, but the thoughts and memories would always linger in his mind. He thought about every time someone mentioned his name, or whenever he saw his face.

Part of him wanted to forget those painful memories of what used to be, but another part of him cherished them, remember the good times they had had together. His spark clenched at the thought of him. He didn't know if it was in sorrow or happiness. He never thought about it too much.

He organized his medical tools, cleaning them and placing them neatly on a metal cart. His mind began to wander, thoughts scattering everywhere. While lost in his musing, a scalpel slipped in his servo and he yelped when it slit one of his digits. He hissed in pain, wrapping his other servo around his bleeding digit. He stood up and walked over to grab some wound cleanser, wrapped in wound in some gauze for now. The pain was nothing he couldn't handle. He had endured worse in the past.

Nothing would ever hurt more than the thought of him.

* * *

_I always knew the truth, at the bottom of my shy beating spark,  
__That making a choice would mend but tear us more apart._

* * *

He had gone over and picked the scalpel up from the floor, wiping his energon away and placing the tool back onto the cart. He sighed, continuing his work.

The two of them had always known that no matter what they did to mend would only make things between them worse than ever before, and would tear that completely apart. But, it never stopped them. It never stopped them until the last strand snapped.

He wanted it to work. He cared for him so much, but also knew, deep down in his spark, that it would never be enough for either of them. At one time, they cared deeply for each other. However, they did not care deeply enough to be together. Only friends.

* * *

_Love was never my thing.  
__It's so confusing and it stings.  
__There are no words that can excuse all the mistakes that I've made._

* * *

Love. Such a little, yet powerful word. It would mend and break someone with just a simple mention. In his case, it once did both.

It was hard for him to love another. Sometimes, it was difficult to love himself, which most would find hard to believe. He remembered as a child, being an only sparkling, his parents hardly ever around. He was always alone in that large home where they had lived. He always thought that he didn't know how to love another, and truthfully, he didn't. How would he know how to, when himself was the only one around for him to love.

He always knew that it was partly his fault. He had accepted that. But, he knew he wasn't the only one who was to blame. Sometimes he felt as if he placed all of the fault and blame on him, but he knew... he knew that he was at fault as well.

He had made mistakes, he knew that. He had made many mistakes, and he knew no matter who many times he apologized or tried to mend, he knew that there were no excuses to them. It did not matter if he knew not how to love. It was his fault, and he accepted that. Not entirely his fault, but he knew he was partly to blame.

* * *

_The world around me is decaying as you're saying those words.  
__I am struggling, but it's all that I can do.  
__I remember your smile; it was just so worth-while.  
__Now it's a memory.  
_

_No matter how I screamed out only echos answered me.  
__My love, you're something I cannot live without.  
__Your hand is no longer at the end of the red ribbon.  
__Nothing is left to connect the two of us any more._

_I tried so hard to hold our cracking love together,  
__But I crumbled and the shards fell to the floor.  
_"_There's nothing we can do, life is just like that, baby."  
__As you said that, someone else's tears dripped down my dry cheeks._

* * *

He hated thinking about those times when they knew that their love was crumbling right before them, and yet they did nothing to stop it. They had wanted to, but they both knew that it was only a matter of time before it all shattered, and they let it.

It was like glass breaking on the concrete.

The glass slipped from them and neither of them had gone to catch it, knowing it was too late.

He was the only one left to pick up the shards.

* * *

_In the midnight light of yesterday, I suddenly realized,  
__Picking up the fallen petals was just so meaningless.  
__Why did I never understand?  
__They could only wither and turn gray in my hand.  
__My world lost all its color and stopped turning long ago._

* * *

He never bothered to pick the broken shards of glass from the floor. There was no point, no meaning. What they had was lost, leaving no meaning to their love anymore.

Red was the only color he ever truly liked. Now it was the only color he could see. Everything else looked gray and dark. However, he would never see red the same way he had before. He never sported much of the color, hints of scarlet here and there, but he had always admired the shade. It was bright and vibrant, giving him color to his white frame.

It no longer matter, however. The only red he could see was his own.

* * *

_My spark beat so fast with the spring air blowing sweet and mild.  
__I still remember the moment we met and how you smiled.  
__And so the quarrels began to grow, and we've hurt each other ever since we've said hello  
__The flowers of our sparks were concealing deadly thorns._

* * *

It wasn't always bad.

He'd never deny the good times they had shared together.

At a time, their relationship was wonderful, full of love, affection and care. They cared deeply for each other and enjoyed each other's company. There were always together at one point, working together, going out together, simply being in each other's presence.

He, however, could never remember when it all began to break.

He remembered the time when they first met. How they both blushed and smiled in the crisp, spring air. He had wished the other would of smiled more. But, even as they felt love and care towards each other, they knew that they had hurt each other since the moment they had met, though they had never realized it until later on, when the pain became too much for either of them to bear.

* * *

_The rain is pouring down in my spark,  
__I'm standing dead,  
__I'm walking blind because of what you said.  
__Despite all my running, rain continues to follow.  
__This pain is not something that I can simply swallow._

* * *

He always hated how the other acted as if nothing ever happened between the two of them. Perhaps he regretted it, resented the time they had spent together and the memories they share. Part of himself wanted to hate him, but deep down, he knew he never could. He could never try.

The other had always expected him to get over it so quickly like he seemed to have done. But this wasn't something that he could simply swallow down and forget. He wasn't like that. He never was like that.

But something inside of him told him that this hurt the other as well. He just coped in a different way than he did. He tried to listen to that voice.

* * *

_Goodbye, my love, this is the end.  
__Please don't watch as I cry.  
__I'm not sure if my heart will mend, but, I have to let go of your hand._

* * *

Letting go was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. He wanted to hold on, to grip him tighter. But, he knew he couldn't hold on to something already gone. It would only cause him pain, and would cause the other pain as well.

For his love, he let their servos slip from each other.

For the last time.

* * *

_If I had one wish, if I had only one wish.  
__I'd wish that we be reborn eternally.  
__And I'd hold your hand, and never let go.  
__I'd hold you through the night and day.  
__And never leave you._

_No matter how I screamed out only echos answered me.  
__My love, you're something I cannot live without.  
__Your hand is no longer at the end of the red ribbon.  
__Nothing is left to connect the two of us any more._

_I tried so hard to hold our cracking love together,  
__But I crumbled and the shards fell to the floor.  
_"_There's nothing we can do, life is just like that, baby."  
__As you said that, someone else's tears dripped down my dry cheeks._

* * *

Now, they stood on opposite sides of the war. They are supposed to be weary of each other and hate one another merely for being enemies in times of war. But they both knew they could never fully hate each other.

He remembered when the other was brought to their warship, and he was forced to stay in the same room as him, fetching him anything he needed. It would have been much more awkward had Shockwave not been their, keeping him preoccupied.

There was a time where he did have to help the other mech, finding a certain tool. He knew what he other was doing, he wasn't stupid. He just didn't care at the moment. He found him what he needed.

"_Anything else?"_

"_... Thank you."_

He walked away, but paused for a moment, not expecting a reply of gratitude.

"_You're welcome."_

He smiled slightly before returning to his work.

This all only made his spark hurt worse than ever before.

* * *

_This is goodbye, baby._

* * *

When Shockwave had left, an uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them. Sometimes, he would glance over to see him, see if he was looking at him. He never did. As he began to weld two components together, he heard him speak.

"I'm sorry..."

He sat there for a moment, just in shock from the fact that Ratchet actually spoke to him. He composed himself and put the welder down.

"For what?"

"For hurting you."

More silence fell.

"Well, if you're going to apologize for that, then... I'm sorry, as well."

"For what?"

"The same reason."

The awkward quietness returned as Knock Out picked up the welder again. He glanced back at Ratchet.

"So, when are you going to make a break for it?"

The older medic scoffed. "Whatever do you mean, I never break out of anything..." He quickly shut his mouth, now realizing that he should of rethought his words. Knock Out only looked away.

"Just get out of here. You won't get far, I can tell you that. But, you wouldn't be the Ratchet I know if you just sat around and waiting for help to come find you."

Ratchet knew Knock out was right. He picked up a tool and looked back to Knock Out.

"Go ahead. I'll try and act surprised."

"You wouldn't be the Knock Out I know if you didn't."

He heard the red mech hum before he dropped the tool into a machine, smoke and fire billowing from it.

On cue, Knock Out turned around.

"For the love of, what is happening?!"

"Uh, the formula isn't stabilizing correctly."

Knock Out sighed. "Guards! Get in here and take care of this before it ruins the project! And my finish!"

He heard Ratchet transform and speed out down the corridors. He walked out of the smoke, waiting a few moments before contacting his lord.

"My liege?"

"What is it?!"

He winced. "Ah, well, we have a tiny little problem, you see-"

"Out with it!"

"The prisoner has escaped!"

He heard Megatron growled and yell in frustration the news was delivered, and he quickly turned off his comm tab. It was only a matter of time before they met again.

After the fall of his former liege and joining "the winning team", not too mention being punching in the jaw by a little female fleshing...

They confronted each other again.

* * *

_Just be foes. All we gotta do is just be foes. It's time to say goodbye, Just be foes. All we gotta do is just be foes._

* * *

"We no longer have to be foes... do we?"

"I suppose not. But..."

"Yes, yes, no need to get technical."

Ratchet sighed. "Well, I suppose we don't have to be foes."

"Just be friends?"

"... Sure. Just be friends."

They both shared a pained smile before Knock Out transformed and sped away.

That was the last he ever talked to Ratchet.

That was the last Ratchet had ever talked to him.

They hoped to keep it that way.

Friend or foe.

Autobot or Decepticon.

There was no fixing their love. They were only meant to be friends...

Not really.

* * *

**_Just be friends._**


End file.
